1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an arrangement for a vehicle information apparatus for recording, computation and display of data determinable from a trip performance, consisting of a transmitter module for providing data dependent on that vehicle, a central unit with an internal program memory and a data memory, and a display terminal.
2. Description of Related Art
Apparatus of this type are associated with the field of vehicle information devices such as taximeters and tachographs, which acquire various data relevant for trip performance as a function of trip distance-time parameters, store the same, compute and display specific results by means of computation processes inside the apparatus, and which print out a selection of results by selective assignment of a print-out module. It is thus known, for instance, that in a taximeter, an appropriate series of pulses is entered into the taximeter apparatus by means of a connection of a transmitter module with reference to the actually driven travel distance, which series of pulses is converted in a computer unit to travel distance units and, furthermore, into trip price units which have to be collected for the same. In addition, data specific to the taximeter are stored ready for retrieval in the form of control counters through various summing counters. This data can be depicted in a large area display by appropriate actuation of keys. The functional mode of such an information device recording the trip performance of a taxi vehicle is essentially determined by a microprocessor system with an integrated ROM (read-only memory) for the operational system and with an integrated RAM (random access memory) for the variable data of the tariff programs and adaptation to the vehicle parameters.
Viewed overall, however, the useful output of the previously known taximeter apparatus is limited to the acquisition of data and supply of information which refers solely to the operational mode of the vehicle controlled by the taximeter apparatus.
The situation with tachographs is similar, wherein the entire driving behavior of the vehicle, extending throughout hours and days, is recorded, as a function of the elapsed clock time, by means of multiple inscriptions upon a tachograph disk. The evaluation of a disk inscribed in this manner and equipped with a basic matrix leads to a multilayered information about, for instance, the speeds driven, the driving mode, the travel distances, periods worked or the time a driver spent at the wheel, etc. In this device is also a transmitter module, which enters information, characterizing the driving behavior and the travel distance in the form of pulse sequences, into the tachograph and which thus stores and displays all essential information concerning the travel distance driven, by means of inscription as a function of time.
This device also supplies, as an information device, merely data on which, for instance, economic or efficiency calculations concerning the actual utilization of a vehicle can be based. Even if the display is expanded in the manner of a monitor, the useful effect remains limited to the display of the momentary condition.
As is evident from the presentation of the known vehicle information devices, for instance a taximeter and the tachograph, the information content of the she appliances is strictly delimited for special use and, in a taximeter, is limited to the determination of a fare price and the storage of several added-up driving performance data, and, in case of the tachograph, the imparting of the information exhausts itself in the graphical curve diagram inscription of the details about the manner of driving across long distances and the time. In the most recent way of viewing things, this is insufficient in order to satisfy all the requirements of a client on service trips, or in order to achieve an optimum utilization of route distance and time. It therefore is imaginable to expand the informational volume of the previously known devices, for instance, according to viewpoints, which alleviate the handling of the fare orders based on additional information and which assist in increasing the efficiency.